New Obsession

So what kind of a person do you get when you mix a visionary with spastic tendencies? Yours truly. My poor husband who has been described as "steady" by my dear cousin Jenni, didn't realize he signed up for this roller coaster ride when he married me. Poor guy. I don't dare ask him if he'd hop on this ride with me again if he had known the curves and loopty-loops I would take (have taken) him on. BTW, www.dictionary.com does not have a definition for "loopty loop".

Being a dreamer and a visionary with a lot of anxious energy I tend to get an idea and become obsessed with it. I mean, really, really obsessed. It may last a day, it may last a year or a few years but until I expend a good amount of thinking, analyzing and sometimes acting on a particular idea then it just won't go away.

A new obsession has now entered my life. About 10 days ago as I was looking into making some soap for Christmas gifts the idea of candle making entered my spastic-visionary-anxious head. See, I was looking into different essential and fragrance oils when I came across a short video on how to make Soy Wax Candles. I was very intrigued! I thought to myself "hey, I could do that. Maybe I'll try sometime."

Well that led into thoughts like "I wonder if I could make and sell candles?"

It has been one week since that first thought came to mind and here I sit in my office with 630 candle tins waiting to be filled. As the last shipment of my supplies arrived yesterday I have made my first 120 candles. I'm not kidding. But I will tell you that thankfully, this isn't one of those things that I just jumped into all on my own. I mean yeah, I "kind of" jumped into it, but I did do so with my husband's blessing. And that means a lot. Because you know, he's steady. And if Mr. Steady thinks it's a good idea then it really can't be that bad (keep in mind that being spastic makes for some not-so-good ideas at times.)

I'm really excited about my potential candle making business. REALLY excited. I haven't sold a candle yet but I'm already chomping at the bit to order some new fragrances online to try out! What I am most excited about is that if this works it will not only, possibly, be a source of income as a stay-at-home mom but each candle that sells will receive 50 cents to contribute towards 1 of 3 ministries. All three ministries minister to children in third world countries. India, Rwanda and Thailand. Two of those ministries feed, educate and train children in the poorest of the poor conditions. Not only giving them hope in this earthly life but introducing them to the One who gives them eternal hope. The third reaches out to children who have been rescued out of the sex trade industry (a growing problem in the world today).

So as I expend some of my nervous energy into making candles it is so cool to think that I am not only doing it for my family but for the Lord.

Maybe I jumped into it too quickly. Maybe not. If I did then all of you who are related to me or live in close proximity to me know what you'll be getting for Christmas for the next 10 years. ha :-)

Here are a few pictures of the candles I made last night and this morning. About 120 all together. Some have more noticeable "frost" on top that I guess should get better as I actually come to know what I'm doing. I'm thinking of calling my business Abiding Fragrance after the verse in 2 Corinthians 2:15, which is a constant reminder to me that I have a choice to be a pleasant fragrance or a not-so-pleasant fragrance to those around me. But does anybody else have another idea for a name that has the word fragrance in it to go along with that verse? At first I wanted "Lasting Fragrance" but that is already a perfume business. Ok, here are the pictures.....

 

I love how they look in their little tins. I hope we can figure out a way to make cute/cheap labels for them! Any ideas?

All candles for 4 oz and $2.50 each, just in case you're in TN or FL (where we are headed tomorrow) and you want some great Christmas presents. Oh, and they're buy 10 get 1 free! What a deal, huh? I'm a horrible sales person but thought I'd give it a shot anyway.

Here are a few non-candle pictures...

Karis had her friend over this morning but spent the first hour calling him Jagger. He didn't seem to mind at all!

 

We're headed to FL tomorrow to spend Thanksgiving week with the fam. We're thankful that we can do this before Jonathan gets a full-time job and traveling becomes much more difficult. He and Karis will drop me off in the Atlanta airport so that I can fly out to Dallas to help Stace drive with her two cutie-patooties over to FL. I'm so excited we get to spend this time together! After they drop me off Jonathan and Karis will continue driving down to FL.

I doubt I'll get around to posting again as I'll be spending the week with family and the Good Cents store. So Have a great Thanksgiving, everybody!